Friday The 13th - Part Three (1982)

After the first seven minutes of Friday The 13th: Part Three turn out to be the last seven minutes of Part Two (minus the slightly baffling denouement), it quickly becomes clear that this is as much a continuation of the last film as a sequel, picking up Jason's story the day after he gets tricked by the lovely Ginny (Amy Steel).

Having randomly butchered the owners of a roadside café-and-store, Jason turns his attention to a nearby farm on the lakeshore.

It just so happens that Chris (Dana Kimmell), the daughter of the farm's owners, is bringing a stereotypical selection of a her horny teen friends (including the potheads, the doofus etc) up to the empty farm for a dirty weekend.

We later discover that Chris had an encounter in the woods with Jason a couple of years earlier that she somehow survived (which does make me postulate whether she, in fact, imagines everything we see in this film... and she is actually the killer!)

Before the inevitable slaughter of the teens begins, we're introduced to a comedically over-the-top trio of bikers that I kinda hoped would turn out to be the heroes of the piece. But, sadly, no.

While most of the murder-victims-to-be are blandly forgettable, one in particular stands out as deserving his fate.

Although, impressively, he manages to cosplay as "hockey mask Jason" before there even was a "hockey mask Jason", if ever there was a character deserving of evisceration by Jason Voorhees it's Shelly (Larry Zerner) the "practical joker".

To be fair, though, Shelly's not the only character who grates on the nerves here. In truth, the cocktail of cliché characters and corny dialogue is such that there are times when you think you're watching a parody of the franchise.

You can also tell that this was originally shot to make 'best' use of gimmicky 3D, with people pointing - or throwing - a variety of objects at the camera, from juggling balls and a yo-yo to fork handles, a red hot poker, and a couple of eyeballs!

If nothing else, Part Three is a pivotal moment in the franchise, as this is the episode where Jason adopts his iconic mask and the weapon he is most associated with: his machete.

However, he's still very much a human being in this one: albeit a seemingly preternaturally strong one who can heal wounds at a Wolverine-like speed (just yesterday he got a massive cut to his shoulder, right? It appears healed by this outing).

Essentially, Part Three tells the same story as the previous two movies (with a masked killer attacking anyone intruding on "his land"), but succeeds in changing things up by cementing the antagonist's iconic look... and then, seemingly, ending the franchise in the final shots.

But we know better...